“We are not happy about the shelter,” Kathy Masi, president of the Glendale Civic Association, said at a Community Education Council meeting on Tuesday. “We are asking the DOE to take a look at the location of Cooper Avenue and the two adjoining properties [for a possible school].”

THE COURIER/Photo by Salvatore Licata

All residents at the meeting were urged to sign the petition, which was started by residents of Glendale and Middle Village, with the help of the Glendale Civic Association, asking for a school in the already over-saturated district. Residents believe that turning the site into a specialized school that runs from pre-K to high school would be the optimal usage for the site, whereas if it were turned into a homeless shelter, the child-to-school ratio in the district would grow even more.

A “green light” was given for human habitation of the land after concerns were voiced about a former chemical complex on the site, according to the petition.

The petition urges the the city instead to acquire the site and build an educational complex there, citing a “dire need of school seats for children of District 24, the most overcrowded school district in NYC.”

“The location would serve as a good site to alleviate problems already present in District 24,” Masi said. “Building a school would be a great alternative for that site.”

The Division of Portfolio Planning in the city’s education department presented a rezoning draft, which targets overcrowding, at the Community Education Council (CEC) D24 meeting at P.S. 305 on September 12. But following an incident in which an SUV jumped the curb on Grand Avenue and injured five students, the plan drew heavy backlash from parents in attendance because some students will have to cross dangerous intersections.

Based on the plans, students would have to cross Queens Boulevard, the so-called “Boulevard of Death,” to get to P.S. 229 from the newly expanded northern area. Also, some children that formerly would be zoned for P.S. 229 will be instead moved to P.S. 153, which may force them to cross the Long Island Expressway via Maurice Avenue.

“You can’t even drive down Maurice Avenue, how are [children] going to walk,” said Sinead McGillen, a parent from P.S. 229. “Just leave us alone, we are happy where we are.”

The proposal will adjust zones based on neighborhood populations, and representatives from Portfolio Planning said they are confident every school will see reductions in congestion in future years.

“It’s definitely going to lower overcrowding,” said CEC D24 president Nick Comaianni. “Is it going to be enough? That’s yet to be seen. In my 10 years as president it’s never been enough. You build it, and it gets filled up.”

The zone changes would only affect incoming kindergarten students in the 2014-2015 school year, meaning that current students won’t change schools. Representatives of Portfolio Planning said they are also considering allowing siblings to stay in the same schools if there is space.

The plan was introduced to the parents for their feedback.

Portfolio Planning staffers took note of the troubled streets parents brought up during the meeting and they plan to reconfigure the proposal and meet with the CEC again on September 24.